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How Groups and Franchises Should Approach Ecommerce

Because brand identity is important and relies on consistency, groups and franchises should ensure websites are an extension of their overall offer. Coming up with the right solution will most often involve bespoke ecommerce. If that sounds scary, it really isn’t. Here, we meet a specialist who has developed websites for franchises, business groups and dealerships.

Having one platform with the ability to offer different front end looks or information is possible with a good ecommerce platform like Gemsuite. Created by Comgem, it offers central product management but also allows dealers, franchisees and others to manage their own pricing. Co-founder of Comgem, Dani Attard says: “This type of platform is perfect for big or growing organisations. It has powerful benefits that give individual parts of a group the ability to manage their own customers as well as catalogues.”

Help for groups and franchises to sell online

Selling online is a no-brainer. Even car manufacturers are now shifting new models on the internet. As well as helping groups and franchises to reach more potential customers, ecommerce is a cost-effective way to do business. Compared to running a physical store, the overheads are minimal. Not only that, advanced platforms like Gemsuite do all the hard work for you, so you spend less time on admin.

“The beauty of modern ecommerce is that you can expand your offer without having to increase the size of your physical store. You can integrate your platform with suppliers or distributors and automatically send order information to them,” said Dani. “It works for a broad range of sectors and can significantly increase sales. We have integrated platforms with a wide range of back office and accounting systems too - everything from Orderwise and Sage to Xero. The list is quite extensive.”

Ecommerce for dealerships

Finding a right-fit ecommerce platform with a responsive design and the ability to sell across multiple channels is what dealerships and groups should be aiming for. If you currently have multiple websites running across a group, you can instantly save time with Gemsuite. It will centralise the input of product information while allowing areas to have their own landing pages - making use of local SEO and appealing to target audiences on a more personal level.

Comgem is the recognised ecommerce specialist for the office products sector, as well as other niche sectors. Looking to improve the way your group or franchise does business?